The War Beat, Europe

The American Media at War Against Nazi Germany

Steven Casey

Highlights the collective experiences of war correspondents including Ernie Pyle, Robert Capa, Margaret Bourke-White, and Walter Cronkite.

Presents the challenges faced by war correspondents mediating between their battlefield reporting and the US press management.

Illuminates the ways in which correspondents shaped wartime reporting for homefront audience.

The War Beat, Europe

The American Media at War Against Nazi Germany

Steven Casey

Description

From the North African desert to the bloody stalemate in Italy, from the London blitz to the D-Day beaches, a group of highly courageous and extremely talented American journalists reported the war against Nazi Germany for a grateful audience. Based on a wealth of previously untapped primary sources, War Beat, Europe provides the first comprehensive account of what these reporters witnessed, what they were allowed to publish, and how their reports shaped the home front's perception of some of the most pivotal battles in American history.

In a dramatic and fast-paced narrative, Steven Casey takes readers from the inner councils of government, where Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Marshall held clear views about how much blood and gore Americans could stomach, to the command centers in London, Algiers, Naples, and Paris, where many reporters were stuck with the dreary task of reporting the war by communiqué. At the heart of this book is the epic journey of reporters like Wes Gallagher and Don Whitehead of the Associated Press, Drew Middleton of the New York Times, Bill Stoneman of the Chicago Daily News, and John Thompson of the Chicago Tribune; of columnists like Ernie Pyle and Hal Boyle; and of photographers like Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa. These men and women risked their lives on countless occasions to get their dispatches and their images back home. In providing coverage of war in an open society, they also balanced the weighty responsibility of adhering to censorship regulations while working to sell newspapers and maintaining American support for the war.

These reporters were driven by a combination of ambition, patriotism, and belief in the cause. War Beat, Europe shows how they earned their reputation as America's golden generation of journalists and wrote the first draft of World War II history for posterity.

Part 5: VictoryChapter 17. To Germany's BordersChapter 18. Blackout on the BulgeChapter 19. Into the ReichChapter 20. Unconditional Surrender

NotesBibliographyIndex

The War Beat, Europe

The American Media at War Against Nazi Germany

Steven Casey

Author Information

Steven Casey is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics. His award-winning books include Cautious Crusade, Selling the Korean War, and When Soldiers Fall.

The War Beat, Europe

The American Media at War Against Nazi Germany

Steven Casey

Reviews and Awards

"The text is carefully written and contains comprehensive notes....Highly recommended."--R. A. Logan, CHOICE

"[W]ell-researched..."--Jim Michaels, World War II

"A vivid contribution to media and military history."--Kirkus

"Steve Casey's The War Beat is a wonderful chronicle of an extraordinary band of correspondents who covered the defeat of the Third Reich. Based on impeccable research, and written with flair and humanity, this utterly absorbing study chronicles the journalists who put themselves in harm's way to record the titanic struggle to preserve freedom."--Alex Kershaw, author of Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris

"Engagingly written and full of illuminating vignettes, War Beat, Europe tells the story of the brave and intrepid correspondents who reported on the European front during the Second World War. Though subject to military censorship, these courageous journalists never lost sight of their fundamental obligation to keep the public informed."--Richard R. John, Columbia Journalism School

"This very impressive volume is a superbly researched and beautifully written study of US media coverage of the European theater during World War II. Its comprehensive and incisive analysis will lead to reconsideration of many standard beliefs regarding the relationship among the media, the armed forces, and the government during this conflict, as well as the individuals whose reporting and visuals helped shape the public image of the war."--Mark A. Stoler, editor of the George C. Marshall Papers

"The famed American war correspondents who covered the European theater in World War II presented to their readers back home a conflict that was tough, but triumphant. The War Beat, Europe shows us the competition, hardship, criticism, distrust, and patriotism that characterized the fractious cooperation between the US military and the media."--Susan Brewer, author of Why America Fights: Patriotism and War Propaganda from the Philippines to Iraq

The War Beat, Europe

The American Media at War Against Nazi Germany

Steven Casey

From Our Blog

When the president declares war on the media, dubbing it the "enemy of the people," the first instinct of its defenders is to take to Twitter to emphasize how many reporters have sacrificed their lives in reporting the news. The second is to hark back to two eye-catching events: the Vietnam War, when uncensored media reporting exposed the lies about how the conflict was being waged; and the Watergate scandal, when the Washington Post helped to uncover the massive attempt to cover-up the Nixon administration's illegal bugging of the Democrats.